Nobody would abuse him anymore and we would live happily ever after.... WRONG!

We have recently lost our beautiful Border Collie “Tobie” from “Idiopathic Immune-Mediated Thrombocytopenia”. (Idiopathic meaning they don’t know the cause).

The devastation is incredible. He was turning 2 years old this month.

At the age of 9 months we rescued him from the local pound and turned his life around with love, patience and care and helped him learn there was nothing to fear, nobody would abuse him anymore and we would live happily ever after. WRONG.

In June 2005 we bought him from the pound where he had been desexed and given all his necessary vaccinations…except one, his heartworm treatment.

We happily brought him home via the Vets where we went to buy the heartworm tablets. We were told that now there was available an annual heartworm injection, Proheart SR12 that takes the worry out of missing the monthly tablets, it’s so much easier and is a once a year only treatment. Of course it is more expensive but hey, who cares…only the best for our new family member…the Border Collie my daughter dreamed of having since she was 8 years old. She had started doing work experience at the pound the day Tobie arrived there so the best part was, that HE had found US! It was obviously meant to be. He was our first and only dog and we adored him.

So yes, we had the heartworm injection given to him with no qualms and the satisfaction and wonder of being able to protect him so easily from the nasty things that could take his life.

We were not advised of the danger. Perhaps the Vet wasn’t aware of them.

Not long after, Tobie had a bout of diahhrea, but we put it down to him settling into his new environment. He was an inside dog and slept in the family room at night. At this point he was fed only Eukanuba Puppy dry food with the odd raw bone. From the day we got him till the day before he died, he was bright-eyed, energetic, eager to please, shiny coat…a perfectly healthy dog and such a joy except…he regularly had this diahrrea and then he started vomiting every now and then, mostly bile or slime. But the Vets could never really work out what was wrong. It was thought he just had a nervous stomach.

August 2005, 7 weeks after his Proheart SR12 injection, he had a very nasty diarrhea, sloppy and full of mucous, but worst of all, BLOOD. There was a trail of bright red blood drops all the way down the hall, leading to this putrid mess of diarrhea. I immediately took him to the vet with a sample of the diarrhea and a digital photo of the blood trail. The diagnosis was Haemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. He was given Clavulox (antibiotic) and Scourban (to aid and prevent bacterial diarrhea). Slowly he regained his health but we were none the wiser of the reason for it. Although his stools firmed up and became normal, every now and then he would still get a sloppy one for no reason whatsoever. We put it down to his “nervous stomach”. I noticed also that he would vomit now and then but nothing would come up but a bit of slime and he would be bright and energetic the whole time.

In November he became ill again, not eating, hardly drinking (he was a big drinker as he chased the ball so much). On the second day, I noticed he seemed very depressed and his nose was dry and warm. We took him straight to the Vet. He had a fever of 40.3 and was put on a drip to re-hydrate him and given Vibravet (antibiotic) and Metacam injection (anti-inflammatory) and kept there a couple of days till he stabilized.

Still, nobody could tell us what was wrong… must be a virus he’s picked up we were told.

In the end we began thinking it was psychological, that he, as a smart Border Collie, was not being stimulated enough, even though we thought he was. He had his daily walks (mostly twice a day) and lots of ball retrieving on the lawn and indoors along the hallway, went everywhere with us, had lots of interaction with our friends’ dogs, even started some agility training at home when he turned 18 months, and lived inside with us where he had his special toys, mostly his favourite, the ball. But he had also started showing behavioural changes which we thought were strange for such a friendly, happy dog…snapping at people he knew, sometimes not seeing or hearing things that he obviously should have. Our friends noticed as well. At one point we thought he was a bit blind, or a bit deaf, or even both.

The symptoms of diarrhea and bile vomit went on intermittently for the 15 months we had him. It would clear up for a while, then return. All this time Tobie remained bright and energetic however, in July of 2006, he somehow broke 2 of his bottom teeth out (the Vet said it was common with Border Collies, as they chased things so fast {the ball in Tobie’s case} that they would crash into things). The 2 little teeth could not be saved so he had to go under anaesthetic to have them removed, was put on antibiotics (amoxycillin) and was given his 2nd annual heartworm injection which happened to be due around that time.

He recovered well from the surgery but around 6 weeks after the Proheart SR12 injection, he started getting blood flecks, pinpricks of blood along his gums and bleeding right at the back of his jaws and was taken back to the Vet. The bleeding in his gums got worse. He started getting spontaneous bruising under the skin on his underbelly around the groin. The initial diagnosis was Haemolytic Anaemia, and he was started on Prednisone. A Coombs test was done on his blood and it came out positive, now the diagnosis was revised to Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia. (Idiopathic, meaning they don’t know the cause…how many people just bury their dogs, accepting that?) He had hardly any platelets. After the Vet asked for specialist advice, he was given a single dose of a chemo-therapy drug Vincristine to boost the platelets (they went up to 12 then back down to 1). Nothing worked. The entire time this beautiful dog remained bright and alert. I spent time with him every day at the Vets to keep his spirits up. Twice I suggested I take him home and bring him in when necessary, but they felt it better for him to stay. Two days after the chemo, he couldn’t even get up to say hello. The next day at the Vets, he died in my arms of a severe internal haemmorage due to profound Thrombocytopenia.

What went wrong?
Could it have been the Proheart SR12 heartworm injection?

We believe so, because approximately 6 weeks after each injection, Tobie bled.
We don’t believe that to be a co-incidence.

The ONLY times he bled was approximately SIX WEEKS AFTER the HEARTWORM INJECTIONS.
In between he had regular diarrhea and vomiting. His system seemed to be going haywire.

He started showing odd behaviour. He was with us 24/7 so we knew him well and he would suddenly get this strange behaviour.

Can anybody shed light on this?
Has anybody else had similar experiences?
Is there anyone else, especially in Australia whose dog has had problems following the Proheart SR12 injections?

Of what I have read about this shocking disease is that most dogs get really lethargic and weak with it.

Tobie confused us all because throughout his ordeal he was so bright and energetic.He lived for those he loved, even through all his problems…he tried so hard…

Evelin and Alex Hegyesi
on behalf of our beautiful Tobie
19.9.04 – 24.8.06

"When you flew away
You left a hole in my heart
And I can't sew it up
Not with the strongest thread
It won't close up
Won't heal
But you have room to
Fly now,
So fly, fly away
Fly far and long
And be happy"

Written by A.Hegyesi ~August 2006

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